Another Randslide in Kentucky

By ALEXANDER BURNS

05/23/2012 05:38 AM EDT

In addition to the presidential primary numbers showing dissatisfaction with President Obama, Kentucky also produced one of the more interesting House-level results from last night: a victory for Lewis County Judge-Executive Tom Massie in a GOP primary that became a test of Sen. Rand Paul's political swat.

Paul backed Massie and recorded a message of support for his campaign. Massie's top opponent, state Rep. Alecia Webb Edgington, had the backing of Rep. Geoff Davis, the outgoing congressman from their district.

The final score in the race was 45 percent for Massie and 29 percent for Webb-Edgington, with the rest of the vote spread across the field. Paul's support isn't the only reason Massie came out on top, but the race is still proof that Paul often thought of as more of a national figure than a Kentucky pol — can move real votes back home.

He also got more than $500,000 worth of backing from a super PAC called Liberty for All, which was funded almost entirely by a 21-year-old Texas college student with an inheritance. The group ran ads supporting Massie and criticizing Webb-Edgington and Moore.

Marc Wilson, a supporter of Webb-Edgington, criticized the group after the ballots were counted.

“It’s a shame that a Texas libertarian super PAC could come in and invade the Republican Party to buy a congressional seat,” he said.